Questões de Inglês - Presente perfeito | Present perfect para Concurso

Read the text and answer the following question. 

Do you assess your students or do you just test them? 

[01] Assessment, evaluation, measurement, grades, tests, marks and so on. Different words to talk about the same issue. But, should they be used as synonyms? 

[02] There are some terms that we often use synonymously, but actually they are not. When you assess your students, regardless of whether you use a test or not, you evaluate all the information in order to measure it and grade them. 

[03] Let´s make it clear: 

-Assessment implies gathering information and observing progress. We can document attitudes, knowledge and skills. 

-Evaluation is the organisation of the data obtained during the assessment; for instance, using grids, checklist or diaries. 

-Measurement is the scale we decide to use in order to measure the evaluation. We measure by marks, ranks or scores, among others. 

-Grade is the number obtained in the measurement. 

-Testing is a measuring tool. We can use a test, an examination or a quiz to challenge the student´s ability or knowledge. 

[04] If you really want to assess your students and make it an active part of their own learning, promoting autonomy and metacognition, they have to know, from the very beginning, about the assessment, evaluation and grading criteria, as well as about the examinations, if there are going to be some. 

[05] Assessment should be a continuous process, gathering information in every lesson and getting to know our students more and more each day, both their personal and academic profile. In order to evaluate this data, we can use simple checklists, a classroom diary, grids or similar instruments, as well as the activities themselves. 

[06] When dealing with all of these tools you have to think carefully about how you are going to measure the information and how you are going to award the final grade. Moreover, you have to weigh up the benefits of testing your students with one or more quizzes and examinations. 

[07] As we all know, changes are possible, and in many cases necessary, in order to adapt your theory to the actual development of the lessons. Nevertheless, all these aspects should be planned and clear from the very beginning, both for you and for your students. It could also be interesting to make them clear to the families, for instance using a classroom blog in which you can publish your evaluation methods and criteria. 

[08] This could be a general example: 

[09] From this general proposal, we would develop a checklist with items relating to attitude: participation, collaboration, deadline accomplishment, attendance, and so on. This is a progressive assessment. 

[10] The activities should be corrected using different tools, depending on their nature. For example, it is not the same correcting a writing or a speaking activity (we can create grids for those, alone or with our students) than correcting a grammar exercise or a listening one (we can correct them using more traditional measuring scales or we could use peer evaluation). We would have to make all those criteria clear to our students before using them. 

[11] Quizzes can be used in order to prepare our students for the final examination. We can use new technologies in order to introduce them, with tools such as Kahoot, Mentimeter, Socrative or Google Forms, among many others. They can create their own quizzes and games, in groups or individually in order to challenge their classmates. 

[12] The final examination could be made up of more than one paper, for instance, we could divide it in two, or even in more items, in order to give them the opportunity to practise and avoid risking their final grade on just one exam. 

[13] Apart from the possibility of dividing the final examination in two parts, another option would be to divide it according to different skills, for example, on the one hand, a test having to do with grammar, vocabulary, reading and writing and, on the other hand, another having to do with speaking and listening. Flipgrid could be a very useful tool to carry out your oral examinations in a less stressful way. 

[14] Before I finish, although we haven´t given specific solutions to the complex problem of assessment, I would like to sum up with some general tips about the issue: -Necessity of an objective and continuous assessment. 

-Necessity of an objective and continuous assessment. 

-Use a variety of evaluation tools, not only for the exams, but also for the process: different types of activities, exams and corrections, to respond to every single student. That will make it less subjective. 

-Make the evaluation and marking criteria clear to your students. You can make them part of the process, for example creating grids or checklists together. 

-Introduce peer evaluation and self-asessment. 

-Be prepared to adapt your planning when necessary. 

[15] And remember, try to point out the positive aspects of your students´ achievements, don´t give them only feedback about their weak points, tell them about their strong points too and try to be quick in giving them back their exercises or exams results, otherwise they will have completely forgotten what they have written. 

[16] The more you get to know your students, the more accurate your assessments will be, enabling them to obtain higher marks in your evaluations, tests, activities or examinations. 

(Available at: https://www.teachingenglish.org.uk/professional-development/teachers/assessinglearners/magazine/do-you-assess-your-students-or-do-you Access on September 08, 2023) 

The 1920s: 'Young women took the struggle for freedom into their personal lives

(1º§) Two years after the Representation of the People Act 1918, the Times published grave warnings against moves to extend voting rights to women under 30. Mature females might now engage with politics, but the "scantily clad, jazzing flapper to whom a dance, a new hat or a man with a car is of more importance than the fate of nations" must never be entrusted with a vote.

(2º§) The fast, frivolous flapper of the 20s was partially a cultural stereotype, but she was also a focus of serious debate. With her short skirts and cigarettes, her cocktails, sexiness and sass, she was not only offensive to the men at the Times, but also a concern to older feminists, who saw in her pleasure-seeking, taboo-breaking ways a younger generation's disregard of all for which the suffragettes had fought.

(3º§) But if the politics of feminism seemed less important to the "flapper generation", this was partly because young women were taking the struggle for freedom into their personal lives. Ideas of duty, sacrifice and the greater good had been debunked by the recent war; for this generation, morality resided in being true to one's self, not to a cause. Towards the end of the decade, some feminists would argue that women's great achievement in the 20s was learning to value their individuality.

(4º§) Personal freedoms remained dependent on public reform and active UK feminists such as the Six Point Group continued to campaign. Women were given electoral equality with men in 1928; legislation brought equality in inheritance rights and unemployment benefits; and women profited from the Sex Discrimination (Removal) Act, which, in 1919, had given them access to professions such as law.

(5º§) Changes in work patterns were dramatic, with a third of unmarried women moving into paid employment across an expanding range of jobs in medicine, education and industry. Mass employment also made women a consumer power. Fashion was one of several industries that expanded rapidly to meet their demands. While the Times considered clothes a frivolity, for women they were a daily marker of liberation: rising hemlines, sportswear and even trousers made their generation physically freer than any in modern history.

(6º§) Sexual mores were also changing. While double standards persisted, a significant number of women were beginning to claim the same licence as men. There were small steps of encouragement, too, with divorce made easier by the Matrimonial Causes Act 1923 and contraception made more readily available by the Marie Stopes mail-order service. The flapper generation may have been comparatively apolitical and self-absorbed, but, as they puzzled out what freedom meant and tested their personal limits, they were broaching issues that would be hotly debated during the 60s and 70s.

Judith Mackrell is the Guardian's dance critic and the author of books including Flappers: Six Women of a Dangerous Generation

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